The information age gave birth to a new type of risk that can potentially hurt businesses just as much as natural catastrophes, so business owners must do everything they can to protect themselves against it. Data breaches have been increasingly prevalent as more and more companies put their information online in order to achieve efficiency.

Making sure that your business information is safe online should be a top priority for business owners. A single incident of a data breach is enough to take the confidence of customers and investors away from your business. On top of that, Yahoo Finance just reported that data breaches can now affect all other departments of a business.

Don't skimp on online security, The Hill reported. While limiting the outflow of cash is one of the things that business owners must keep in mind, it is best not to do it at the expense of security. You want to give your customers peace of mind and confidence that their data is highly secured, and good online security is expensive. Better reduce expenses in another part of your business like cutting the use of disposable materials, which can also help the environment.

Do your research. You can be sure that each and every one of the companies that offer online security will tell you that they are the best in the business. Your job is to learn about online security and select which one of them is telling the truth. You should be able to read beyond the marketing words and gimmicks in order to avail of the best online security out there.

Prepare for the worst. As with any aspect of your business, you should have a go-to plan in the event of a data breach. The plan must be well thought of and must aim to minimize the damage to your business reputation. Jobs & Hire previously reported about the steps that Gmail, Yahoo and Microsoft take to limit cyber hacking.